Stidham headed to HOF

Tuesday

The youngest-ever enshrinee and the winningest football coach in College/Sooner/Bartlesville high school history are among those who comprise the 2014 Bartlesville Athletic Hall of Fame Class.

The youngest-ever enshrinee and the winningest football coach in College/Sooner/Bartlesville high school history are among those who comprise the 2014 Bartlesville Athletic Hall of Fame Class.

The list includes Jennifer Fontenot, a 1996 graduate of Bartlesville High School; Burl Stidham, the College High Football coach from 1948-61; Tracy Bunge, a 1982 Sooner High School graduate who went to become head softball coach at the University of Kansas; longtime Hillcrest Country Club tennis pro Pat Ritchie; and the 1978 Sooner High School golf team, coached by Joe Holladay.

During Monday’s Bartlesville Sports Commission meeting, held at the Bartlesville Bruin Fieldhouse, BSC board member Tim Bart announced the list of 2014 honorees. The Seventh Annual Bartlesville Athletic Hall of Fame induction banquet is slated for Nov. 1, at the Hilton Garden Inn.

In 2008, the BSC created the Hall of Fame to recognize Bartlesville storied and rich sports history.

Several other individuals were consulted, as well, Bart said, some of who included Dan Keleher, John Kane and two-time inductee (as an individual and as a member of a team) Dee Ketchum.

Nomination forms are available on the BSC website, Bart said, adding he doesn’t foresee for future years a shortage of worthy candidates.

"We have many, many outstanding individuals who have been nominated and are waiting to get in," Bart told the gathering.

He said the purpose of the Hall of Fame is "to recognize individuals and teams who, through athletic achievements, have made a lasting contribution to athletics and athletic endeavors in the Bartlesville area, and brought honor to themselves, their school and the community."

Following are closer looks at the Hall of Fame Class of 2014:

Jennifer Fontenot

Eighteen years after she graduated from Bartlesville High School, Jennifer Fontenot’s sports legacy still casts a tall shadow in Lady Bruin athletics.

A four-time state track champion, Fontenot went on to excel as a 400m sprinter for the University of Oklahoma.

The versatile athlete also earned selection to the 1996 All-State volleyball squad.

But, it was in track where she would make her biggest impact.

Near the end of her sophomore year (1994), she rocketed to the state championship in the 400m dash. The next season, she repeated as 400m dash state championship.

In 1996, she captured state gold in both the 200m and 400m sprints.

Fontenot also set Lady Bruin records in both events — :25.1 in the 200m and :56.7 in the 400m.

Fontenot also started for the Lady Bruin basketball team.

She went on to seize All-American track honors at Oklahoma — in the 4X400 in 1998; in the 4X400 in 2000; and in the 400m in 2000.

She was a member of the OU 4X400 teams that set the Oklahoma women’s outdoor record (3:31.81) ad the indoor record (3:42.39).

She was honored in 2000 as the Oklahoma Female Track Most Valuable Player.

Fontenot also qualified for the NCAA indoor championship meet, in the 400m dash, as well as qualifying for the NCAA outdoor championship meet.

She will become the youngest inductee. Currently owning that distinction is 1992 Bartlesville High graduate Renee (Roberts) Jones, who was enshrined in 2013.

Burl Stidham

Stidham’s tenure coincides with a golden age of College High football, that included future NFL standouts David Baker and Bobby Joe Green, and many others who went on to distinguish themselves in college athletics. It was during Stidham’s stewardship Custer Stadium was built and opened. He registered a career football record of 81-52-6 (.582) at Col-Hi; his 81 wins are the most by any football coach in Bartlesville prep history. Among his top seasons were 1958 (9-1), 1950 (8-2), 1954 (8-2), 1959 (7-1-2), 1960 (7-3) and 1957 (6-2-2); The Wildcats suffered their only 1958 loss to Muskogee, 8-0.

Stidham is being inducted in the Coach category.

Tracy Bunge

Bunge truly was a girl for all seasons.

The Sooner High product — who graduated in 1982 — played on the 1980 state championship softball team, helped the Lady Spartan basketball program qualify for the state tournament, and, as part of a doubles team, placed fifth in the state in tennis.

She also was a key member of the Lady Spartans’ 1979 softball state runner-up squad. The Lady Spartan softball team powered to a 62-18 record, from Bunge’s sophomore-through-senior seasons, and qualified all three years for the state tourney.

Following her Spartan years, she excelled at Kansas in softball; she was a three-time First Team All-Big 8 selectee, and a three-time All-Big 7 Tournament honoree and, in 1986, was selected as NCAA First-Team All-American. The University Kansas Athletic Hall of Fame inducted her in 1987.

Following her college years, Bunge played on the 1994 ASA national championship squad.

She served as Kansas’ head softball coach from 1997-2009.

She currently runs a private softball instructional and consulting business in Lawrence and also serves as the assistant coach of the Dutch National Team.

Cindy Cooper, one of Bunge’s Sooner High teammates, was inducted in 2010, in the Hall of Fame.

Pat Ritchie

A Sapulpa High School graduate (1973), Ritchie arrived at Hillcrest shortly after completing his tennis career at the University of Tulsa. He has served as the Hillcrest head tennis pro for 36 years. He played both basketball and tennis at Sapulpa, and played an integral role in helping the Chieftains win back-to-back state tennis championships in 1972 and 1973.

During his tenure at Hillcrest, he has assisted the local prep tennis programs. A son and daughter, J.P. Ritchie and Kaitlyn Ritchie, both excelled in the Bartlesville High net program and each went on to play NCAA Division I tennis.

Ritchie is going into the Hall of Fame in the Community Award category.

1978 Sooner High Golf Team

When most local residents think of Holladay, they remember him as a Sooner basketball coach and later an assistant basketball coach for Roy Williams, both at Kansas and North Carolina. But, he also turned out to be a talented golf mentor, who guided a co-ed squad to the 1978 state championship. The Spartan crew led by 13 shots after the first round at the Oklahoma course, in Norman, and locked down the title.